---
id: SCH-33
family: GR-SCHEMA
level: extended
profiles: [storage-api, editor-client]
posture: normative-target
added: "1.0"
changed: "1.0"
source: https://flowdrop.io/spec/rules/gr-schema/sch-33
specification: FlowDrop Workflow Specification 1.0-draft
licence: CC BY 4.0
---

# SCH-33 — A schema that will not load never rewrites stored parameters

*GR-SCHEMA (Part I) · level: extended · profiles: storage-api, editor-client · added in 1.0*

A momentary failure to load a node type's declared schema once looked exactly like "this node type declares nothing", and a save then wrote that emptiness back as permanent configuration loss.

## The rule

> **Normative.** This is the rule.
>
> 1. A declared parameter schema that fails to load, or that loads without a usable `properties` map, must not be read as a node type declaring nothing; a node type with no parameters declares an empty map, and an absent map loses stored rows exactly as a failure does.
>
> 2. Where a node type has stored parameter configuration that such a schema would drop, the save is refused and nothing is rewritten; where nothing is stored there is nothing to lose, and the rest of the editing surface stays reachable.
>
> 3. A write path that is reachable without that refusal writes the stored configuration back verbatim rather than the accidentally empty computed one, and leaves reserved-port exposure untouched.
>
> 4. Only the render path may treat an unloadable schema as no properties, where that correctly means render no rows.

## Related rules

- Names: SCH-32

---

Rule identifiers are permanent and are never renumbered. This specification carries
no implementation status: each implementation publishes its own standing against
these rules. Licensed CC BY 4.0.